Conservative rightwingers are planning to present Rishi Sunak with demands for tougher action on immigration and human rights law before the election if the prime minister’s manifesto promises on Tuesday fall flat.
Prominent party figures including Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick are said by Tory insiders to be among those waiting to see how the manifesto is received by the public before they act.
.In the event Sunak’s launch fails to shift the dial on the Tories’ floundering election campaign, one option under discussion is a press conference next week to set out a series of alternative pledges.
They are hoping to capitalise on an already weakened Sunak who vowed to fight on until the last day of the campaign after a terrible weekend in which he was criticised for missing part of the D-day commemorations.
On the campaign trail in West Sussex on Monday, the prime minister said he believed he could still win back voters and he did not accept that the election result was a foregone conclusion
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Conservative rightwingers are planning to present Rishi Sunak with demands for tougher action on immigration and human rights law before the election if the prime minister’s manifesto promises on Tuesday fall flat.
In the event Sunak’s launch fails to shift the dial on the Tories’ floundering election campaign, one option under discussion is a press conference next week to set out a series of alternative pledges.
Sunak was reportedly facing last-minute calls by cabinet ministers to add new tax cuts and tougher migration policy to the manifesto after early drafts provoked disquiet over the lack of big ticket pledges.
The manoeuvring by some on the Tory right, as they position themselves in anticipation of the battle for the future direction of the party in the event of election defeat, is likely to further undermine the prime minister and give succour to Reform UK and Labour, who say the Conservatives are weak and divided.
In a recording leaked to the Guardian, the Tory rightwinger Andrew Rosindell told a private audience that Braverman’s push to leave the ECHR was “right”, warning: “You can’t go in with a bland, wishy-washy manifesto; the Conservatives have to stand for something and believe in things.”
At the champagne fundraiser in Mayfair in February the Tory, standing alongside Braverman, said that “we need to give the British people answers” before thanking her for “fighting very hard to ensure that our party is firmly back on the right track”.
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